Journalist publishes list of 'useless' British PRs

A UK freelance journalist, Kevin Braddock, published (then hastily deleted) a list (along with e-mail addresses) on his blog of the most useless, incompetent PR people he had dealings with during 2009. The list is/was several hundreds long and included someone from virtually every firm in the business. Fearful of lawsuits, Kev deleted the post. The Times says it’s easily found on Twitter, but I (and a few others) couldnt unearth it; any pointers??

I find this interesting that journalists feel free to do such things. What about useless journalists that don’t get information right, NEVER respond no matter how targeted the pitch is, or frankly write useless stories. Shall we make a list?

Thanks much Joss; what I find interesting is that the “big PR firms” are UNDER-REPRESENTED in his list, which is somewhat a feather in their cap…quite a few inhousers named tho. And yep PR fan, if only publicity PRs werent so scared of offsiding the media brotherhood, a list of self-serving, rude and entitlement-junkie journos would be a hoot.

We don’t reply because we are bombarded with useless press releases every day from rude and arrogant PRs who expect free advertising. “Targeted” releases come in their hundreds and most are poorly researched and totally off base. If I answered all of the ‘targeted’ releases that I get every day, I wouldn’t have time to do my job.

Most PRs can barely conceal their contempt for us. In my 25 year career as a journalist I’ve found just a handful of PR people that I am happy to do business with and I will always answer their releases, talk on the phone with them and their products and services ALWAYS get priority and they get loads of free national advertising.

They are nice people and they expect nothing and get everything. In short, they know how to do their job!

PRs remember your job is PUBLIC RELATIONS. Rudeness and lack of respect and open contempt is unprofessional.